museum

These interesting photographs capture abandoned suitcases belonged to residents of the Willard Asylum for the Chronic Insane between the 1910s and early 1960s. in 1995 when the institution was closed, staff came across the forgotten belongings, and donated them to the New York State Museum. In a Collectors Weekly article, editors brought up the interesting point: “If you were committed to a psychiatric institution, unsure if you’d ever return to the life you knew before, what would you take with you?”

For over three decades designer Hans Fex has been collecting the Earth’s most unusual historical samples such as: coal from the Titanic, a fossil of a palm tree from Antarctica, dinosaur bones, wrap from a mummy and even a piece of the Apollo 11 command module. Working with specialists recommended by museum curators, research scientists and university historians, he has now gathered 33 artifacts that he’s broken down into tiny pieces and inserted into translucent case. He calls it the Mini Museum.